Element
by skyyblue
Summary: ok, so first of all, i know the fifth book is out but i'm not about to change the story so this is just an alternative fifth year floating around on it's own... ok, that said, please R
1. Andrea

Disclaimer: **_yeeees_**, I own HP! IN FACT, I rule the world, and, oh look, pigs are flying and it's raining ducks (incase you're not getting this, I'll own HP when hell goes cold, J.K.R. owns Harry potter, so far, I just created Andrea in my twisted little mind, well, you know)

-.-.-.-.-.-

Harry set down the stairs, feeling tired from staying up late last night with his friends. It was his first day back at Hogwarts and he was not looking forward to potions second period. He stared out into space and then noticed a very wet owl making it's way through the entrance hall. The small owl landed on Harry's shoulder. He untied the roll of parchment from its leg and it soared away. Harry unrolled the parchment. It was wet, and most of the writing was smudged, but he could make out some of it. It read:

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_This year we will have a new student transferring to our school. We have chosen you to show_-Him? Her? The word was too blurred to tell- _around the school. Please wait by the entrance…_

The rest was completely illegible, but he could see it was signed by professor McGonagall. 

Harry walked down to the entrance and decided to look for anyone unfamiliar. Just then he saw a girl leaning against a wall. She looked very tired, something about the way she rested there made him feel as thought he'd seen this before, though he had certainly never met her. Despite how pulled apart she was, there was something comforting about the way she looked. She was tall, dark hair, with shallow gray eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and her school robes were slightly undone.

"Hello," said Harry.

"Hello," she replied.

"Oh," Harry noticed her accent, "um, you're the one I'm supposed to be looking for… right, er… where are from then?"

"Yeah, I guess," she answered, "I'm from the states."

"America?"

"Yes, America," she laughed.

"What schools do they have there?" he asked.

"Oh, a few, none nearly as old as this one I would say. Or as well known, but they're ok, its just that… and I'm talking to much," she let out a delightful laugh, "So… what class do we have first?"

"Defense against the dark arts, though I can't say who the new teacher is going to be, I don't actually know," he pulled her robe a bit to direct her down the corridor.

"Oh, I think you'll like him…" she smiled a little, the kind of smile that made him feel like his hair was sticking up at odd angles or there was some joke on him he wasn't picking up on.

"How do you know?" his voice must have sounded a little nervous because she let out another short laugh.

"It's just that I think you liked him the last time…"

Before Harry had time to ask what the hell she was talking about, they turned the corner and his question was answered for him… There, resting against the doorway, was a very familiar figure.

"Professor Lupin!" shouted Harry.

"Harry! Andie!" Lupin's voice boomed down the hallway uncharacteristically.

"You, er, you know each other?" Harry was officially lost.

"Yes, Harry, my niece, Andrea"

His niece? Lupin had never mentioned a niece, let alone any family whatsoever.

"Your niece?" said Harry in disbelief.

"Yes, my older brother Ro's girl."

They sat down in silence until the class started to file in.

"Ron, Hermione… This is Andrea, she's from the states," he gestured for them to sit down.

"Really…" Hermione inspected her for a moment and seemed to decide she was suitable, "Well, welcome to Hogwarts"

"Professor Lupin's back!" said Ron, "You'll really like him, he's great."

Andrea just laughed.

"What, what's so funny?"


	2. sketching

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no one can! Harry Potter is a free spirit, make love, not war!!!! Ok, so maybe someone does own him, still not me though, J.K. Rowling rings a bell. However, Andrea and Ro (Romulus) are all mine, mwahahaha

-.-.-.-.-.-

Harry and Andrea headed down the corridor. They had been talking since they left Defense Against the Dark Arts. They would probably be late, they would probably be yelled at, they would probably loose mounds of points for Gryffindor, but they probably wouldn't care. They finally headed down to the dungeons and stumbled into the classroom carelessly.

There stood Snape, looking very mad, and the carefree feeling was sucked out of Harry as quickly as it had come.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, so nice of you to join us." He surveyed Andrea up and down

"Potter…er…girl, sit down," he ordered.

"What is your name," he said, staring straight at Andrea.

"Andrea Lupin"

His eyes suddenly turned colder

"Romulus' girl," he hissed

"Uh, yeah." Her eyes darted around trying to find something else to look at.

"Well then, Lupin," he spat the name out, "I suggest you come to class on time from now on."

Harry could see the corners of Snape's lips curl up, he obviously took great pleasure in ordering that name around.

They had to make a healing potion, and Harry was unfortunately teamed up with Neville… again. Seamus had been paired with Andrea and would have been doing fantastic, if Andrea hadn't kept staring out into space… yes, much to the dismay of Hermione, another wasted mind had been added to the ranks of the Gryffindor house. The rest of the day passed quickly enough and they finally settled into the common room for the night. Ron and Hermione were finishing their homework and Harry was watching Andrea writing in what appeared to be an odd, large, rather ornate, leather bound sketchbook. It looked old, like books he had seen in the far back of the library, not like something that you would just buy at Flourish and Blotts. It was delicately leafed in gold, and had countless buckles to keep it closed, and in the back, what appeared to be several compartments for keeping quills, brushes and ink.

"Where did that come from?"

"Uhhhhh, my stuff…"

She kept writing.

"It's yours?" Harry knew he must have sounded a bit stupid, but then again, he felt a bit stupid.

"No, I saw it in someone's room and decided; breaking and entering, theft, what's a little felony if u only live once?… of course it's mine."

"Right… of course," he smiled awkwardly, "it's just, an odd looking sort of book is all… nice though."

"Thanks."

"so what is it you're writing?" Harry tried to peer over the page but she quickly tilted the book towards her.

"Music, at the moment, but I write a lot of things in here… sketch some things too."

"Could I see one maybe?" Harry leaned in closer.

"Sure, why not, oh, but first, could you show me your memories? That'd be great…" ah, sarcasm, the great defender.


	3. nice cloak

Disclaimer: How many times to I have to tell you dense people, do I look like J.K.R to you? Well I don't own HP then, do I? You agree, I wasn't expecting that…Well then, er, that'll teach you, um, not to go, er, right then…

-.-.-.-.-.-

The next few days passed quickly. Harry was a bit frustrated with the way Andrea was so drawn into herself. He had almost taken it upon himself to be her guide, not just for the first day, but for her stay at Hogwarts. He for some reason felt that she was his responsibility, and her failure to mix in, would in turn, be his failure as well. But tonight was just like any other so far, Harry had seen no changes in her yet.

He sat watching her sketch something in her book, Harry assumed it was the fire place. She kept lifting her head to it and then letting it sink back down to her book

Hermione sighed, "It's getting late, I'm going to bed."

"Oh, me too," said Andrea, tearing herself away from her up, down, up, down ritual.

"Yeah, I guess we should be going Harry," said Ron.

Harry shrugged and walked up to the dormitories. As he lay in bed, he couldn't help thinking about her. He had tried to find a place for here, somewhere that worked, but it was turning out to be a futile attempt, it was as though she couldn't exist here, and she wasn't even going to try. But he had better things to think about, didn't he, quidditch season starting, and… no, but the nagging thought came back.__

This was getting ridiculous, it was late and he wanted to sleep, but it just wasn't working.

After hours of staring at the ceiling, Harry stepped out of bed and went downstairs. There he saw Andrea sitting in a chair reading a large book. At first Harry thought it was simply her sketchbook again, but soon his eyes became accustomed to the candlelight. Harry could tell from the illustrations on the cover that it must be from the restricted section.

"How'd you get that book?" he called down.

She jumped a little and then looked up.

"Oh, it's only you, that freaked me out."

"That's from the restricted section, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a wicked smile.

"How-"

"Handy cloak you've got, huh?" she said without looking up from her book.

"You went through my trunk!?"

"I did not go through you're trunk," she insisted coolly.

"Then how…"

She stood up.

"I'll be right back."

Harry watched her walk up the stairs and then picked up the book. It was a reference book, on the markings of a dark witch or wizard. His own ability to speak parseltongue was there. Before he could finish reading the page, she headed down the stairs with a sweater. He scrambled to put the book down. Did she know he was a parseltongue? She knew about the cloak, why not this? But even if that was true, she wouldn't bother to get the book… unless there was something Harry didn't know, but he didn't have time to sort things out rationally.

"You know…" he said.

"Know what?"

"That I'm a parseltongue…"

"What?" She took a step back from him

_stupid, stupid_ he thought

"But you can't be… I mean, you're the one who stopped Voldemort, you can't be…"

"No," he replied "But if you didn't know, then how come you were reading that…"

"It's, it's nothing," she paused, "Stop looking at me like that! I said it's nothing…" she paused again "Ok, so it's something, but…" she sighed and looked down, "Ok, well, look, if I tell you, you can't let anyone else know." Harry nodded and waited for her to say something. "SWEAR you won't!" he nodded again, "ok, get me, um, a glass of water."

Harry didn't question, he just retrieved the glass and handed it to her. She set it down on a table in front of her and held her hand above it. Suddenly a small orb of water was floating below her hand. As she turned her arm over, the water ball hovered above her palm. She held the water up to her lips and it was as though she sucked it in. As she turned around Harry almost jumped back in surprise. She was completely different. Her eyes were entirely blue, darkening towards the center. Her skin was shimmering an eerie blue green, her hair was floating about her head as though she was under water and her appearance looked blurred. Her mouth opened as though she was trying to say something, but no sound came out. She turned to face the fireplace and put her hands out in front of her. Water flew from her lips, hands, her fingertips, straight into the fire putting it out quickly. Suddenly she collapsed. She quickly repeated this process, but with a flame from a candle. Now she looked more in focus than before, her eyes flickered red and orange, her hair flowed about as if it were the flames and her body was glowing gold. She replaced the fire in the fireplace the same way she had put it out.

"What was that," he asked, almost out of breath.


	4. I knew that

Disclaimer: I admit it, none of this is miiiiiine, I'm a fraud! Go ahead, lock me up and throw away the key. Oh, I'm allowed to do this if I say its not mine, I knew that. Well, I just told you, I don't own HP, so you can read this now.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Read further down the page." She handed him the book.

Harry Skimmed down the page, he didn't know what exactly he was looking for, but he had a feeling he'd know when he found it. Then, there it was, the words almost jumped out at him

_"**Element Power**"_

"_The ability to control earths natural elements. Those with this power can use fire, wind, water, and earth at their own free will. This power is found in some dark witches, though not usually wizards. However, there have been some instances where the element power is triggered by an extreme event in the course of someone's life_."

Harry stopped reading. He looked up at her.

"So this means that if you're not a dark witch, then there was some 'extreme event' that happened to you? - Wait, you must have already known it was a marking of a dark witch, or you wouldn't have known what book to look for."

"Yeah, I knew that… but I know I'm not a dark witch, I had to see if there was another way…"

"Well, then what traumatic event was this-"

"Nothing," she interrupted, "I'm gonna go to bed, goodnight!"

"But," he called after her.

She grabbed the book and ran up the stairs to her room quickly. Harry shrugged and made his way up to his room. He opened the door slowly and looked around to make sure no one was awake. He slipped into his bed quietly and drifted to sleep.


	5. quidditch

Disclaimer: Well, when I woke up this morning, I was pretty sure that all of this was mine, so I thought to myself, why don't you go read some of those great books you wrote, so I do, and you know what I found out? Some Lady named J.K. Rowling owns it, not me! Well, now I have to go reevaluate my life, thank you very much. (you do understand I'm just telling you I don't own Harry Potter, oh, ok, just making sure)

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Wake up… Harry… WAKE UP!!" Ron's voice shook him out of his sleep.

"What? What is it?"

"Listen," said Ron.

Harry heard music, **loud** music, coming from the common room.

"What **is** that!?" Harry yawned.

"I dunno, let's go see!"

Ron dragged Harry downstairs by his wrist. Of course, there was Andrea, reading a book while listening to **very** loud music.

"Why is that so loud!!??!!" he yelled over the music.

Without looking up from her book, she flicked her wand and the music turned down to a normal volume. Hermione made her way down the stairs, rubbing her eyes.

"What in bloody hell is that noise?"

"Jus' playin' some music," muttered Andrea.

"That's impossible," Hermione yawned, "you can't use electricity in Hogwarts, there are charms that prevent that."

"Yes, but you see, the part that uses electricity is really the c.d. _player_, not the c.d. It's easy really, I just tweaked one of those hidden information revealing spell thingies to sort of an encoded information revealing spell…thing… that'll play the music written on the c.d.," she answered absentmindedly.

"Wow, um, right then…" said Ron, slightly surprised, mostly uninterested in why the noise was being played, more interested in the fact it was giving him a splitting headache.

"Why must you use these powers for evil," Hermione sighed.

"Because…uh…fuck you."

Harry and Ron sniggered.

"Oh, shut up," Hermione retorted, "what kind of comeback is that?"

"I don't know, but then why are you mad?" Andrea was trying not to pay to much attention to Hermione.

"Well, I usually am when some one says that to me…"

"and the point of a comeback is to get the other person mad, so there, it was a good comeback," she went back to her book again.

"Oh… shut up!"

"ohhh, nice one," she tried waving Hermione away.

"Ok, my multitasking skills can only go so far. Reading, singing, and talking is enough, I cant add dealing with you to the list"

"I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted."

Andrea ignored the comment.

"Anyone for breakfast?"

"Nope, can't eat," said Harry bluntly, "They're announcing the quidditch captains today, I'm too nervous."

"Oh, yeah, they're also trying out new players, I'm gonna go out for chaser."

"You?" Harry laughed at the thought of Andrea playing, "chaser?"

"Yeah… one of your chasers did graduate, right?"

"Yes… but I don't really see you as, well, a chaser."

"Oh, why is that?"

"Never mind, you know, suddenly I'm hungry, let's go Ron."

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Harry Sat impatiently.

_When's McGonagall gonna come out and announce the new captains!?_

As though she had heard his thoughts, she came out holding a roll of parchment.

"Now I will announce the names of the players who will replace those captains who graduated last year…" She cleared her throat. Suddenly, it was as if he went deaf, the only word he was ready to hear was his name. He watched her mouth forming words in anticipation, then, like it came from a distance…

"Harry Potter"

Ron turned to him grinning. Harry was suddenly shaken back to the normal world.

"I'm the captain?" he said to Ron in disbelief, "I'm the captain!"

McGonagall's voice interrupted.

"Your first task as captains is to oversee the tryouts for the empty positions, and choose the players to take them. On you go!"

"Do you seriously think she's trying out?" asked Ron.

"I think she is, but I seriously don't think she'll make it."

Harry walked over to his part of the quidditch pitch. Waiting for him was Seamus, Neville, _Colin, _a third year girl he had seen around, and, of course, Andrea.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you here Neville," said Harry.

"Yes, well, I've decided just to give it a go, get over my fear of flying," he choked a bit on his words.

"Well, good for you then. Ok, Let's see Seamus first then. What are you trying out for? Keeper, or chaser?"

"Keeper," he said.

"Up we go then."

They soared up into the air. Harry threw the quaffel at him a few times, he blocked a little more than half.

_Not bad,_ thought Harry, _could be better._

"Ok, now Neville."

"I'm going for chaser I suppose."

This time Harry stood in front of the goal and blocked every goal Nevil tried to score, It wasn't very hard since he could barely stay on his broom. Next was the third year girl, her name was Abigail Preston, she made a rather good keeper, blocking more of the shots Harry took than Seamus had. He didn't bother long with Colin, he knew having him on the team would be insufferable. Finally…

"Andrea, well, uh… need me to explain anything?" he laughed, amusing himself with the thought of her trying this. It wasn't too unfair of him, he had pretty much given up on her being part of this school at all, quidditch included.

"You really don't think I know anything about this, do you?" she asked, a little disappointed.

"Well, it's just that… I mean, you don't really seem like the type of person who, well… no."

She let out a sigh.

"Let's just get up there, ok?"

They shot up into the air, he was surprised at how strong her kick-off was. She tossed the quaffle up once and caught it, then with one quick, swift motion, she shot it at him like a bullet. He stared, open mouthed for a moment, and then another blur shot past his head.

"You gotta stay on guard!" she yelled to him.

"Yeah, yeah, ok…" and then another one went right past him.

"You're making this too easy Potter!" she shouted.

"That's it Lupin, you're dead."

Despite Harry's best efforts, he was only able to block one goal. Despite everything in Harry screaming the contrary, he couldn't deny it, he had found her place at last.

"Well?" asked Ron as the walked away from the tryouts.

" 'Well' what?"

"Well… did she make a fool of herself?"

"Not exactly…has to be on of the best chasers I've ever seen."

"You're kidding," Ron gasped, a little sarcastically.

"No, Ron, I wish I was, but I'm not, she obviously deserves the spot on the team."

"Well then," Ron said, "I guess she's the new chaser," he smiled tauntingly. "Have fun…"


	6. crawl under a rock

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the general concept of the books belong to J.K. Rowling, this is just a fanfiction inspired by the books, I do not own any of the characters except for Andrea. (bet you didn't see that one coming, ha! I can be normal, I told them all! Well… I guess I just lost the right to normalcy)

-.-.-.-.-.-

Harry sat there poking at his eggs.

"Why don't you just eat something," said Hermione, "It'll be good for you."

"Nope, I just can't, this is the first quidditch game of the season, against _Slytherin_, and to make things worse, Draco's the captain, if we don't win, I'll never live it down."

"Don't worry," Ron muttered through bites of his food, "You've got a great team, you're the best seeker in this school, Andie's the best chaser, and that keeper's not too damn bad either…oh yeah, and Fred and George, whatever."

Harry looked down at his plate and swirled the food together.

"Yeah, I know, but – Hey, where is Andie anyway?"

"Well, there's two possibilities," began Hermione, "Either she can't eat either, or she's in the kitchen eating more than any of us."

"Knowing her," said Ron, "which I don't… I'd say the second."

"Yeah well…" Harry looked down at his watch, "Oh, lord, I've got to get down to the quidditch pitch, I'll see you at the game."

Harry whistled as he walked lazily out the front doors. Looking out on the glassy lake, he began to think…

_Don't worry yourself Potter, you've got a good team, and you've been practicing like mad. Especially with Andrea… who would have known what she could do. She's special though, even if I've only known her for a few weeks, I can see that…I wonder what she thinks of me…_

He smiled a little then shook his head.

"What am I thinking?" he said out loud.

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

With Madam Hooch's whistle all 14 players soared into the air.

"Remember the play!!" Harry called down to Andrea.

She nodded to him and soared away with the quaffle. Harry squinted, looking for even the tiniest glint that might lead him to the snitch.

"…And Andrea Lupin is weaving in and out, look at her go!" announced Lee Jordan, "Oooh, but Parkinson dives right into her! Tough blow! Damn Slytherin-- er, sorry professor, but come on! That has to be a foul! Oh, but look! Alicia Spinet steals back the quaffle, clean pass to Lupin who sends it right through that hoop!!! Ten points for Gryffindor!!"

_Going well so far_, Harry thought to himself, _just keep looking for that snitch…_

At first Harry was completely focused, trying to listen to what was happening now and then, Andrea had scored another goal, then Slytherin scored, the second time Slytherin tried to score, Abigail blocked the goal, then Katie Bell scored, and George barely missed stopping a bludger from hitting Alicia. Suddenly Harry's attention began to wander, he was watching her, making sure she didn't mess up the play. His feeling of being responsible for her action's was returning.

_Harry, you have your own things to think about, don't worry about her, she'll be fine._

Harry searched for the snitch a bit more, and rested once again on Andrea.

_What's she doing? That's not what we discussed—no, Harry, she's good, she can handle this, you don't have to give her extra attention…_

But he was giving her extra attention, something in him wholly doubted her, doubted her abilities, doubted her existence. But not even that was the whole reason, from the beginning, something had connected him to her, she had become his burden, but a welcome one. It was a subconscious decision to make himself responsible for her failure here. Why? He didn't know…

_Get in the **game**, _he thought to himself, _come on…_

"And Lupin scores another one, she is really goin'!" announced Lee.

And then Harry saw it, darting between the two Slytherin beaters, the golden snitch. Harry could see Draco was looking at him, he thought for a moment and then decided what he would do. He shot straight up in the air, Malfoy on his tail; he looked down without turning his head so that Draco wouldn't know. Then, just as he got high enough, he dove straight down, the two beater's looked up at him in horror and flew away in opposite directions Before Malfoy could even realize what Harry had done, he had caught the snitch. Harry had caught the snitch.

"And Gryffindor wins!!!" cheered Lee, "180 to 30!!!!"

Andrea smiled and flew towards him, hand out for a high five.

"We won!" he shouted to her.

"Yeah, now you wont have to crawl under a rock."

His hand met hers, and something quite unexpected happened: he held onto it. What he did next, he couldn't control, maybe it was the same thing driving him to watch over her that drove him to this, but it didn't matter. It must have surprised every soul standing in that audience. There couldn't have been one body present there who had seen it coming, but there was no doubt as to who was the person Harry had most astonished, that would had to have been himself…

She remained there, frozen, unresponsive; his heart gave a single beat that he was sure every one could hear over the cheering. He softened is grip on her and let her drift from him, still motionless. What had he done… Suddenly, the entire crowd hushed for a moment, and then exploded with a different sound, whispering. She turned away and Harry floated down wearily.


	7. supreme moron

Disclaimer: Hey, why is it that everyone but Gilligan and the skipper had an endless wardrobe when the theme song clearly states it was a three hour tour, who packs for a three hour tour? Whatever happened to that dog on the Brady Bunch? Why is it that Andrew Keaton went from a baby to a toddler in one year? Why is it that I need to keep explaining to you that I don't own Harry Potter? Why aren't you just reading my story, ugh, now your wondering about the Gilligan's Island thing, aren't you? Oh great, now the mysteries of tv sitcoms have taken over your mind, it's to late for you now.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Harry drifted downwards where his friends were waiting for him. Ron had a wide grin on his face, but Harry couldn't quite place the look on Hermione's. Was it annoyance? No… jealousy? No, Definitely not that. Irritation, indifference, disapproval? As Harry landed Ron grabbed his arm and pulled him down from the broom.

"I knew you fancied her," he said slowly, "I knew it."

Harry turned to see Andrea running from the field, followed by Parvati and Professor Lupin.

"Er, I don't know if she…" Harry started.

"C'mon!" Ron tugged at his arm, "let's get back to the common room."

Harry looked back to Hermione who was scowling.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Oh, nothing," she pursed her lips slightly.

"Oh, now what," sighed Ron.

"It's just, well, I don't really think that was the right thing to do, do you?" she said in her know-it-all way.

"Hermione, do you really think I meant to do that, it's not like I had time to think if it was the right thing to do."

"Yes, well, it just wasn't very smart, was it."

"Her-mi-on-i," Ron grunted through gritted teeth, "just…c'mon."

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

"_Well,_" Parvati announced as she entered the common room, "I don't know _what_ was going through your head, but now look at what you've done!"

"What have I done?"

"Well, how _stupid_ can you be? As if that's not a bad idea in the first place, you go and do it in front of the entire world, don't you?"

"Not the entire world…"

"The entire school, _Harry_, is the entire world, while you're here it is anyway, it's not like we see anyone from anywhere else. It's the entire world Harry, it is. You realize you've really upset her"

"No, I haven't" Harry protested.

"Of course you haven't, you only humiliated her in front of the entire _world_ is all," she said unconvinced.

"Ok… where is she, I'll go talk to her." Parvati looked at him for a moment before answering.

"In professor Lupin's office."

Harry stepped out of the portrait hole and down the corridors to the office. As he got there, professor Lupin was leaving.

"Hello Harry."

"Er, hello," Harry replied, unable to quite look Lupin in the eye.

"Go in if you like," he said.

Harry just nodded and waited for Lupin to turn the corner before bursting into the room. Andrea was sitting at the desk, looking under the cover on the cage in front of her. She had her head resting on her arms, and she seemed worn out, but why? There was no real reason for her to be so anxious, was there? If anyone should be upset it would be him. Harry cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Oh, hello," she didn't look up at him.

"For someone who's supposed to be mad at me, you're being very nice."

"Who said I was mad at you?" she asked, still looking down.

"Oh, um, just… people… are you ok? Listen, I mean, I just didn't really think, I guess that was a bad idea and…"

"It's over now, ok?" she let out a sigh. "_God_, I mean, you people can really drag a thing out, can't you? I mean, what the _hell_. What, do things not happen here? Or are you bunch just **really** excitable?"

"What? Wait, but you're the one who was…"

"I was just mad because people wouldn't _leave me alone_, good lord, it's like they expect me to run home and cry simply because _you_ were a supreme _moron_."

"excuse me…"

"well, you really were," she looked up and smiled.

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Harry stepped into the common room to see Hermione half asleep over her work, and Fred, George, and Ron trying to see how long they could keep a burning paper plane in the air. He also noticed that as soon as he entered, Ginny scurried away like a mouse.

"What's with her?" he asked Ron.

"Dunno, she's been like this since the quidditch game this morning. I think she's a little upset about the whole thing," said Ron, slightly distracted by the floating flame.

"Hermione," said Harry, "It's Saturday, you don't have to be doing school work."

Her head quickly shot straight up.

"Huh? Oh, it's you," she yawned.

"You don't seem happy to see me."

"How did your talk go?" she asked.

"I would say well… but I don't think that's quite the word for it…"

"So she was mad?"

"No. Well, yes really. Well no, she wasn't. I mean, she was, but she wasn't angry at what she was angry about… I think… wait" Harry stopped himself. "What I mean to say is, she was only angry with the fact that everyone was so upset."

"So she doesn't think you're a moron? Well, that would make…"

Harry interrupted, "Oh, no, she thinks I'm a moron, she just doesn't seem to care… too much…"

"Ah… then, cheers."

"On what?"

"On choosing the one person in this school who truly doesn't give a fuck," Hermione's eye's laughed as she got up to walk to her dormitory.

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Later that night, as the common room started to empty out, Andrea finally came back.

"Hi," said Harry as she came in through the portrait hole.

"Hi," she smiled back. "I've just been helping my uncle with Monday's lessons."

"Oh," said Harry, "well, it's late, I'm gonna go up to bed."

She nodded and he headed up the stairs to his dorm. Harry sighed as he flopped into his bed. After tossing and turning for an hour, he drifted to sleep, or at least somewhere between reality and unconsciousness.


	8. i like cars

Disclaimer: Duh! I don't own Harry Potter, but some characters I created (je suis un genius, non? ; P hehe) you should know the ones I made up (*cough* Andrea, Romulus *cough*) anwayz…

A/N: ok… I'm going to exercise my powers of omniscientness now… "*****" means that it's no longer from Harry's point of view. Ok, there, read now, go.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning Harry really began to see what Andrea had been talking about the night before. It seemed that every little first year and second year girl in the common room was only thinking about the quidditch game yesterday. Harry couldn't move in the common room without being followed by a swarm of whispering.

"Ok, what the fuck is going on here, you'd think people wouldn't care this much wouldn't you?" Harry asked, already fed up with the constant staring; not that he wasn't used to it.

"Most of those first years do fancy you, I mean the girls of course, well, I don't really know actually, maybe some of the boys too, but to each his own I say--"

"Ron!" Harry pulled him back from his tangent.

"Er, yes, well, as I was saying, I just supposed they're a little disappointed… I mean, not thinking you'd ever have anything to do with them, but when you actually bother with someone else…"

"Yeah, ok, I get it," Harry let out a sigh and sank down into his chair, "are we going to breakfast anytime soon? I don't think I can spend another minute here."

"Fine," Hermione spoke up from her text books, "we'll go, I'm a bit hungry anyway… this can wait for later."

Harry Ron and Hermione climbed out of the portrait hole and quickly walked to the great hall. She plopped herself down between Neville and Andrea and motioned for Ron and him to sit across from her. Just as they were sitting down, Malfoy entered. He looked very tired and messy; he hadn't slept much.

"Don't look now," Ron whispered to Harry, "but look who just came in."

"Yeah, I saw."

"I bet he's really mad about you winning yesterday," Ron said lightheartedly.

Malfoy began walking near their table.

"I bet he's going to say something to you, get ready," said Ron.

Harry was just about ready to take some obnoxious line from Malfoy when he did something surprising. He stopped by Andrea and bent down so his mouth was right by her ear and whispered. Harry tried, but failed to hear what he had said to her.

 "Hi Draco," she replied rather normally just before he slipped something in her and walked off, but he hadn't forgotten to glare at Harry beforehand.

Hermione and Ron were looking at her open-mouthed, all Harry could do was stare blankly

"What was that, what are doing talking with that git?" exclaimed Ron.

"What, what's wrong with him?" she asked, seemingly annoyed, but most likely uncaring.

Hermione looked as if she had no patience for Andrea.

"He's horrible, selfish, and cruel, that's what's wrong with him." Hermione finally said calmly.

"Well, I was paired up with him in herbology, he seemed rather nice." Andrea replied.

"And what was with that he just said," Harry asked.

"Oh, that, that's not important, ok?" she said, waving it off. She looked up at him and read the expression on his face. "Harry, not everything has to do with you I hope you know… you don't have to know about everything that happens, though, from what I've heard, you really do love to get yourself involved in other peoples business." 

She stood up abruptly and walked out of the great hall. Harry got up and followed, running after her down the hallway.

"Piss off, you fuck," she didn't have to turn around; she knew it was him.

"well, I think it is my business… what did he give to you? I'm only doing this for your own good, you don't know him and he could get you into a lot of trou--"

She cut him off, "Why is it exactly that you seem to think everything I do is _your_ business?"

"I don't! I… I don't know…"

"Well, if you could figure that out, that'd be nice, thanks," once again her voice was laced with sarcasm. "Listen Potter, I'm not like every other shit head in this place who loves you just because of your last name. Ok? I mean, I get it, you did good and all, but that was a long time ago, and has nothing to do with who you are, and everyone seems to think it does. Personally, I think you're a glory-seeking dick head. I mean what? Afraid people will stop liking you? Of course you are, even if you want to pretend you don't like the fame, it's the best thing you've come to know and you're scared of losing it. So you go off and take it upon yourself to save the world, right? Even if the world doesn't need saving…"

"It's funny how you think you know anything about me…" Harry spoke through gritted teeth.

"But I do… haven't you gotten it yet? You're Harry Potter, the _world's_ best friend. And the world's gotten to know you _so_ well, it knows you better than you know yourself, hasn't it? Doesn't that scare you just a little? How you keep thinking you've got yourself figured out, and suddenly, someone's just one step ahead of you, again? I mean, for the first 11 years of your life you thought you were someone completely different… how do you know this is who you really are now?"

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Harry and Andrea had repaired their friendship, or whatever you would like to call it, but Harry wasn't quite sure if that's how he wanted it. She was making his life so difficult, and what bothered him the most is he was just letting her. __

_Stop thinking you can fix her, there's nothing to fix, she's just going to stay the same. _he thought as he walked down the deserted hallway. That's when he heard voices. He couldn't hear what they where saying, but he recognized them, it was Andrea and Malfoy. Harry peeked around the corner. They were leaning against the wall talking, he was playing with her necklace. Harry stepped around the corner and cleared his throat so they would know he was there. Malfoy looked up and there was a glint of softness in his eyes that quickly disappeared, melting back into his cold glare.

"Potter," he grunted, straightening his cloak, "Er, I was just talking here to your chaser, you realize if we beat Hufflepuff, we'll be going against you again. I was just telling Lupin that next time she shouldn't expect such an easy match."

"I'm sure Malfoy," said Harry.

Malfoy turned away and gave Harry one quick glance before leaving.

"Goodbye Lupin!" he called back.

Harry scowled at her, "You don't know him."

She just shook her head and walked away.

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

"This weekend is the first trip to Hogsmeade!" announced Eleanor, the Gryffindor prefect. "Remember to bring your permission slips. We leave at nine on Saturday."

Hemione scowled up at her. She was very bitter that she wasn't given the prefect position.

"Don't worry 'Mione," Ron said, "I bet next year you'll be prefect, maybe even head girl."

She frowned at him, "If I ever want to be head girl, I'd have to have become prefect by now."

Harry looked over at Andrea, she was reading a note.

"Andie, what's that?" Harry asked.

"Huh?" she looked up at him, "oh, it's from, uh, no one, really."

"If it's from Malfoy, I'd like to read it," he said flatly.

"As a matter of fact, it is from _Draco_, and I don't know if I'd like you reading it," she eyed him carefully, and softened her frown into a smile.

_Staturday, Lake, E.M._

"What is he talking about," laughed Harry.

She snatched the note from him, "I let you read it, see, it's nothing."

"He's not what he's making himself out to be, you'll see, he's awful."

"I can take care of myself Harry."

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Harry woke up Saturday, he looked over at his watch, eight o'clock sharp. Harry put on his glasses and dragged himself over to the window. He looked around until he saw what he was looking for, he watched as Andy walked across the field to where Malfoy was standing by the lake.

Harry couldn't hear them, he tried hard to read their expressions but it was pointless this early, all he could do was watch.

Draco took her arm and led her away.

*****

"Where are we going?" Andrea let herself be led towards the forest. 

"You'll see…"

"Ok, this is crazy, we're not allowed in there.

"It's fine, I go in there all the time, there's nothing too dangerous if you don't go too far in."

"Ok," Andrea Paused, "but what do you need to show me?"

"I don't know why I'm showing you… you're just the first person who's ever really _tried_ to understand."

Draco finally stopped at a clearing. At first Andrea didn't really know what she was looking at, but then she began to realize it was some sort of hideout.

"I come here sometimes, to be alone," Draco explained.

It wasn't the simple beauty of the clearing that astonished her, it wasn't even the careful planning it must have taken to build this place here, it was what was resting there. Stacked there, by some trees and a few candles, were books. Dozens of books, muggle books. She could see all the classics; _A Tale of Two Cities_, _A Christmas Carroll_, _Tom Sawyer_, _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, etc. Next to the massive stacks of literature she saw what looked to be… a pile of automobile magazines. Upon seeing this she couldn't help but laugh.

"I like cars,"  he whispered shyly in response.

*****

Harry leaned out the window, but it was no use, they were gone.

"come on, where are you, come back…" he urged. Neville must have heard him talking, because he woke up.

"Harry, who are you talking t…"

Suddenly, the glass on the windowsill flew straight at Neville's bed and shattered on the bedpost.

"Hey!" he shouted, slashing back the drapes on his bed, "I'm sorry if you want to be alone, but you don't have to throw things at me!"

"I didn't!" Harry replied.

"Oh, then who did?"

"I dunno," Harry said sleepily, "a ghost? Oh, it was probably peeves, that's all."

As Harry was trying to sort out the situation, a noise from outside distracted him. It seemed to be coming from the forbidden forest. It sounded like laughter…


	9. maybe they were shagging

Disclaimer: Geico is a car insurance company, gecko is a little green reptile. J.K. Rowling is a person who wrote and owns Harry Potter, Jay K. Rowling is some person who has nothing to do with the HP books. I'm  not Jay K. Rowling, but seeing as I'm also not J.K. Rowling, I don't own the HP books either. Now that that's sorted out, please read.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"So… she just went into the _forbidden forest_ with _Malfoy_," Hermione was going over what Harry had told her.

"Uh huh"

"Why on _earth_ would she do that?"

"It's not that big of a deal Hermione,"

"Well, I suppose… but really, what do you think they were _doing_, I mean, what would Malfoy need to show her in there?"

"Maybe they were shagging," Ron suggested.

"Ron!" Hermione looked appalled.

"They could have been…"

"Maybe he has some anti-muggle shrine in there or something," Harry mused.

"Oh, please."

"You think?" Ron seemed interested.

"I don't know, I'm kidding Ron."

"Right, but what if she's muggle?"

"She's not."

"Well," Hermione began, "We don't really know that, do we? I mean, we know her dad's a wizard, but…"

"Yeah, I've never really heard her say anything about her mother come to think of it…"

 "Ok," Ron broke up the conversation, "Where to first?"

"Honeydukes," Harry said, "I need sweets."

Ron nodded and led the way. As the entered the shop, Harry spotted Malfoy and Andie in the corner of the shop, looking through the barrels of every flavour beans. Malfoy looked up and saw Harry staring at him. With that, he looked to Andie and then stepped sideways slowly, like he was edging away from something that bothered him. He then looked up at them again and acted as if it was the first time he noticed them.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Potty and the weasel. Oh, and you've got the mu…muggle with you too." He smiled mockingly.

"Were you going to say something else, Malfoy?" hissed Ron, "Suddenly growing a conscience on us?"

"Believe me, Weasley, I would love to see you gag on slugs again, but we wouldn't want to cause a scene, would we?"

" 'snever stopped you before," Ron muttered. All the while, Andie had been watching from the corner, observing. Just then she walked forward, shoving Malfoy aside gently.

"Harry, there you are, I've, er, been waiting for you guys. I got up earlier, so I just decided get straight here instead of waiting there. Um, lets, go somewhere."

Harry looked at Ron and nodded his head towards the door, Ron and Hermione understood and began to walk out. Harry followed them along with Andrea.

"You'll never guess what happened on my way downstairs this morning," Andie said as they walked to the Three Broomsticks. "Well, I was going downstairs, and all of a sudden, just as I pass this portrait of a girl in a blue dress, it starts shaking. I mean, _really_ shaking, violently. I thought it was gonna fly right of the wall, and the girl in the portrait screams and runs to the portrait next to her. All of a sudden, the shaking moves the portrait she just ran to, and then it goes down the rest of the paintings on the wall, like this big wave of shaking, and then… it just stopped." When she finished, Ron's eyes where wide and Hemione looked thoughtful.

"Are you sure it wasn't just peeves?" she suggested.

"Yeah. See, at first I thought it was him, but when I got downstairs, Nearly Headless Nick was there, so I asked him if he had seen peeves, and he said that just a few minutes ago he was in Filch's office switching the labels on the files."

"So he was in Filch's office when the shaking started?" Ron stuttered.

"You know," Harry said, "something did happen this morning, you where still asleep Ron. I just got up and I was at the window, when all of a sudden, the glass of water on the sill flies at Neville's bed by itself, I thought it was peeves, but now…I don't know"

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

After stocking up on sweets and pranks from Honeyduke's and Zonko's, they got ready to return home. Just as they all where about to leave, Harry heard someone clear his throat behind them. Harry turned to see Draco.

"Well," Harry said, "we've been seeing far to much of you today, haven't we."

"Believe me Potter, the feelings about that are mutual," he replied coolly, "I just need to talk with Lupin, I hope you don't mind, she has some information I need."

"What kind of information?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Nothing that would interest you Potter."

Draco turned and began to walk. Andrea gave Harry one look that seemed to say "sorry" before walking away. Hermione and Ron just shook their heads and turned in the opposite direction. 


	10. poker face

Disclaimer: The owner of Harry Potter is somewhere in England. I, however, am trapped in daiquiri-a-gogo land with the very senile. *Logic Question* If the owner of HP is in England, and I have been schlepped away to daiquiri-a-gogo land, can I own HP?

*WARNING*for the very thick only*(the answer is NO)

-.-.-.-.-.-

In the next week, the disturbances had become more disruptive and dangerous. First, an entire row of bottles shattered at once during potions, then, swords flew off the wall at passersby in the corridors. The worst, according to Ron, was when Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, mysteriously levitated into the air for a moment, came crashing to the ground, then shot into the corner, ripping at Ron's trousers on the way. Dumbledore had announced that they where sure it wasn't Peeve's doing and assured everyone that they would find away to stop it.

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Harry sat with his back to the wall. Despite his grandest efforts, he was beginning to think there was nothing he could do about Andie and Malfoy. He had to admit he had never seen Malfoy be kinder to any other living thing… but still. Harry couldn't let her fall into the wrong hands, and she was too blind to see for herself that Malfoy wasn't what he was making himself out to be. For the most part, Harry new it was ridiculous to try and control her actions like this, but there was something driving him to, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. Finally the door next to him opened and he heard her voice.

"Goodbye."

She left, followed by Draco. He waited for the footsteps to fade away before emerging from his space between the door and the wall and made his way back to the common room. When he swung the portrait open, there she was.

"Did you enjoy our conversation?" she looked straight at him, as if she could read him like a diary. He looked down and tried to seem as if he was genuinely interested in his shoe laces.

"Yes?" she was waiting for him to say something, she already knew what it was, but he said it anyway.

"I thought you two were losing interest"

"I know, your high spirits gave you away."

"I've never been too good at hiding my emotions."

"Remind me to play you in poker sometime." He laughed and looked down again.

"It's just… I don't know, I just don't think you really know who he is…"

"Who is anyone?" she asked, "people are just an illusion, the face they show to you, that's who they are. We just have to accept that."


	11. i told you not to

I'm broke, I can't afford a slice of pizza practically. Now, if HP belonged to me, I could very well afford a slice of pizza, heck, I could afford the whole pie! Well, you get the idea

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Ugh! You people give Halloween a _bad name_!!!!" Andrea was utterly frustrated with the entire English Halloween concept.

"This sucks! Halloween's like my favorite holiday, and this year, I'm stuck here doing nothing!"

"What about the feast? That's always good," Ron tried to cheer her up.

"Do you even _know_ what muggles in America do on Halloween?"

"Er, well, no, but..." Andrea cut Ron off.

"You dress up in costumes, go from door to door, and get free candy just for saying trick or treat."

"Aren't you a little old for that?" said Hermione.

"When are you too old for free candy?" Andie protested. "And that's not even the best part… like Halloween parties and renting scary movies, and Haunted houses... besides," Andy noted the look on Hermione's face, "the costumes get better the older you get, me and my friends where gonna be playboy bunnies this year." Ron suddenly stopped walking,

"I think this is my favorite holiday too." Hermione gave Ron a smack on the side of his head and continued on to the great hall.

"So, where's everyone going for Christmas break?" Andy asked.

"Home," said Hermione.

"Home," repeated Ron.

"Here," Harry sighed.

"You're not going home?" Andy asked.

"I'd rather have every appendage ripped from my body one by one, starting with the smallest," Harry sat down slowly at the Gryffindor table.

"I'd take that as a no," she sat down across from him, "I'm staying here, it would be too much trouble to go back home. But..." she stopped herself then and changed the subject, "Are you all going to Hogsmeade next weekend?"

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

When Harry got down stairs that morning, Andrea was already gone, with Malfoy presumably. Harry didn't bother to wait for Hermione or Ron today; he wasn't in the mood. He just showed his permission slip to Filch and made his way to Hogsmeade. On his way there he saw Cho ahead of him. Something was so different all of a sudden… She was still attractive, no doubt about that, but Harry didn't have the same fascination with her. When he looked at her, he just saw a pretty girl, that was all.

"Hi Harry," a soft voice shook him out of his daze. He looked up to see Cho looking at him. "Oh, hello."

"I haven't seen you around too much this year."

"No, I guess you haven't," he tried to walk past her.

"How've you been?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Oh, well, I guess I'll see you then."

Harry didn't bother to say anything in return, he just kept walking, hands stuffed in his pockets. As Harry turned into Hogsmeade, he immediately found who he was looking for, though now he wished he hadn't. Andie was there, Malfoy saying something to her, standing a bit closer than he would have liked. With that, Harry quickly turned into The Three Broomsticks. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though he shouldn't have been there. After drinking down a few butter beers (adding some of his own vodka to it) Hermione and Ron finally found him there.

"Hello!" Ron swung himself into the seat next to Harry's.

"Hello," Harry, closed his flask and stuck it back in his inside pocket.

"You really shouldn't drink that," Hermione sank into the chair on his other side.

"Stuff it"

"Nice mood you're in," Hermione waved for a drink.

"Sorry, I'm just not having a good day I guess."

"Got up on the wrong side of the bed, eh?" Ron laughed, but abruptly stopped after seeing the way Harry was looking at him. "Right then… d'you know what I just saw?"

"Malfoy walking with Andy?" Harry said morbidly.

"Er, no..." Ron began.

"Thank god then."

"...Actually, he was snogging her… behind Zonko's"

"Fuck it…" Harry muttered, bursting out the door. He walked to the end of the road to Zonko's. There, right where Ron had said, were Malfoy and Andrea. Harry leaned against the wall and took one burning, comforting swallow of vodka. It was like a car crash, he didn't want to look, but he couldn't help it. He stayed there, taking the occasional swig of liquor, until he became rather woozy and stumbled back to find Ron and Hermione. They had to help him most of the way back to Hogwarts.

"I told you not to drink that stuff," Hermione shifted under his weight.

"Stuff it,"


	12. some things never change

::_sleeping…sleeping…sleeping_:: Uh! Oh, what? No, You'd want J.K.Rowling, she's the one who owns HP. Great. Have a nice day ::_sleeping…snoring…sleeping_::

-.-.-.-.-.-

Harry sat in the hospital wing, weak from vomiting. _Tomorrow's gonna suck_, he thought. Just then, Hermione, Ron, and Andrea pulled back the curtain next to his bed, "SURPRISE!" Harry flicked them off and they all broke down laughing.

"We just came up from dinner to visit our favorite little drunkard," Hermione said.

"Yes," Andy added, "You, know I'm very disappointed in you..."

"Oh, not you too," Harry moaned.

"Yes, you didn't even bother to share? Hand it over!" Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"No, I'm serious, give it."

"Ok, ok," Harry took the flask out of the pocket of his jacket hanging next to his bed and handed it to her. She took one quick swig and handed it back.

"How're you feeling," Ron asked.

"Terrible. I probably should have listened to Hermione...did I just say that?" everyone but Hermione laughed.

"Well," Andy began, "your first mistake was drinking in the middle of the fucking day. Believe me, schools go by the don't ask, don't tell, policy, but if they have to drag you home… I think they don't have to ask."

Harry scowled at her, "yes, I realized"

"Well, I'm just telling you, for future reference…"

"Ok, well, sorry to abandon you," Hermione looked down at her watch, "but we're gonna go. We'll see you later, I hope." Harry waved goodbye to them and sank back in his bed.

"Well, well, some things never change do they." A voice behind the other curtain made Harry jump.

"Erm, who's there?" The curtain pulled back and Malfoy was sitting on the bed next to Harry's. His right arm was bleeding.

"Potter, potter, drunk, are we?".

"Not anymore… What the fuck happened to you?"

"Just a minor incident… but whatever the hell's been going on here is really starting to piss me off."

Harry looked at Malfoy's arm for a moment before speaking. "What do you mean by 'some things never change'"

"Oh, nothing, just that once again, here's the great Harry Potter; ill. And once again all his companions have come to comfort him."

"Ron and Hermione are my friends."

"Yes, I know, those two, but I would have expected better from Andie."

Harry took one more look at the gash on Draco's arm before turning away.

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

It was very late when Harry finally returned to the Gryffindor common room. To his surprise, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea where still awake.

"Why aren't you guys asleep?" Harry climbed through the portrait hole.

"Waiting for you, or something," mumbled Andy.

"What've you been doing all this time."

"Talking," said Ron, "Yeah, so Andy, Why aren't you going home for break. I mean, you seem to miss it, and won't your mum and dad miss you?"

"I guess," she muttered, "but it would be too difficult anyway."

"You've never really told us about your mum," Hermione mentioned.

"There's nothing to tell."

"Sure there is, go on," Ron urged.

"I don't know her," Andie replied quickly

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hermione said.

"Don't be, its not your fault is it? She left us, it doesn't really matter anymore."

As they began to leave the common room, something came to Harry's mind, "Was that what started your powers, finding that out?" he whispered. She paused for a moment before answering.

"Uh, yeah"

.·:*·.·.·.·*:·.

Harry walked along the corridors that night, he was tired, but he couldn't sleep. He didn't care if he got in trouble, for once, he wasn't trying to sneak around. He had just been thinking.

"Who's there?" a voice came from behind a slightly open door. He was obviously making more noise than he meant to. The door slowly creaked all the way open. It was professor Lupin.

"Oh, Harry, It's you." 

Harry swallowed, "I suppose that I'm going to get in trouble for being out of bed so late."

"No," he smiled weakly, "this'll be our little secret." He winked and motioned for Harry to join him in his office. Harry sat down across from him at the desk.

"Would you like some butterbeer," Lupin pulled a bottle out of his desk drawer.

"Sure, why not," Harry immediately went to pull the flask out of his inside pocket, but then stopped himself.. He took a sip of the butterbeer, he had forgotten how it had tasted on its own.

"So, what brings you here so late at night," Lupin looked at him in the same way Andie did, the look that seemed to peer right into him and read him.

"I just couldn't sleep, I have a lot on my mind," Harry suddenly lowered his voice, though no one else was there to hear them, "Andie told me about how she got her powers."

"Oh," said Lupin solemnly, "so she's told you about the power. That's interesting, she doesn't tell many people about that, and I didn't even think she knew how she'd gotten them. We'd always tried to avoid telling her why because we thought it might bring back memories… she would have trouble dealing with that."

"Yes I can understand why."

Lupin nodded in agreement, "Yes, it was quite traumatizing you know. She was the only one at home when it happened."

"When her mother--"

"Yes," interrupted Lupin, "it would have been quite a frightening scene for anyone, let alone a child"

"What would have?" Harry asked.

"The suicide."

Harry was quite sure his heart stopped for a moment. When Lupin saw the look on Harry's face, he became quite panicked.

"Oh, dear, she didn't tell you. I shouldn't have said anything."

"She, she told me her mother left," Harry stuttered.

"Yes, she tells people that. Hell, she's almost convinced herself of it I suppose, but she still has those dreams of finding the body…"

"Maybe I should go," Harry said hoarsely. He opened the door stiffly and came face to face with a gloomy looking Malfoy.

"What are you doing here," Harry hissed.

"I was out to get something to eat in the kitchens," he said rather dully. He was looking towards Harry, but not at him.

"Did you..."

"I heard, Potter, I heard."


	13. just some minor annoyances

One day *twitch* this'll all be mine *twitch* mwahahaha!!!!!! J. K. Rowling can't have it!!! No… noo…. *muffled screams*

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Well, well," a drawling voice broke the silence.

"If it isn't Mr. Potter, out of bed, what a shock," said the voice sarcastically from the shadows behind Draco. "And who…" the voice trailed off, Snape stepped out of the shadows and carefully observed the two of them for a moment. "Mr. Malfoy… I would have expected better from you, especially now that you're a prefect, you should be a little more careful about bending the rules." He said the words almost automatically, as if it hadn't been him speaking at all. "Follow me, both of you," he barked, and turning on his heel, he marched stiffly down the corridor.

Harry threw a look at Malfoy, and for once it wasn't a look of hatred, but one of accepted panic, and to his surprise, Draco surveyed him in a similar manner in return. With that, they both hurried after Snape.

Snape led them down a few floors until they had reached the dungeons. He stormed halfway down the corridor and then flung open a door.

"IN," he said simply.

Draco and Harry scrambled into the room and then remained at the center of it, watching Snape with growing fear. He slammed the door behind it and then leaned against it a moment, closing his eyes, as if trying to regain is composure. With a deep breath he opened his eyes again and watched the both of them.

"Why don't you sit?" he suggested, with a dangerous edge in his voice. Harry had been caught out of bed a few times before, but never had he seen this urgency with which Snape was handling them. Harry hesitated for a moment out of confusion, but Snape threw him a sharp look, which threw Harry down into the chair.

"Er – professor…" began Malfoy cautiously, "don't you think you might be getting just a little carried away? I mean, not that Potter here really _deserves_ to be cut anymore slack," Malfoy seemed to be regaining his arrogant drawl rather nicely, "but really, we were just caught out of bed this once, no harm done…"

"First of all, Mr. Malfoy," Snape spoke barely moving his lips, "I do believe _both_ of you have a record of sneaking about sometime in the past. And second," his eyes grew colder, " 'this _once'_ may have caused quite a bit of harm indeed if I hadn't found you." Harry wasn't quite sure what he meant by this, but he wasn't about to question Snape, who seemed to be fuming more and more by the second. Instead he looked around the room to try and give his eyes something else to look at. He noticed Snape's office looked much more cluttered than the last time he'd been in it. Among the carefully arranged jars and the vials of potion ingredients, there were several books strewn haphazardly throughout the room. Harry recognized a few as belonging to the restricted section, from when he had searched the shelves secretly a few times in the previous years. Upon closer inspection Harry could see that they were all about jinxes and curses, and how to remove hexes, one book was titled _Cursing Homes, Castles, and Other Establishments_.

"Mr. Potter," Snapes voice pulled him back from his distraction. "Is there something in my office that you find particularly interesting? Would you like me to keep quiet while you _observe_?" Harry could tell he was dangerously close to losing massive amounts of points for Gryffindor.

"Er – no – sorry Proffesor."

"Well then, it would do you good to try and focus your attention on me for a while. As I was saying, currently it is not safe for _any_," Snape glared directly at Harry, "student to be out after hours, especially without a teacher present anywhere near." Harry was about to mention how he had been with Professor Lupin, but stopped himself, knowing that he would probably only end up getting Lupin in trouble as well.

"But - " began Malfoy.

"The Hogwarts corridors, Mr. Malfoy, I'm afraid have become a rather dangerous place to wander." Harry could tell by the look on Draco's face that he had no idea what Snape was going on about, and he was quite sure he himself didn't look much more understanding. Snape seemed to note their confusion and attempted once again to explain.

"Lately I'm sure you've noticed a few rather… chaotic… events here at Hogwarts, have you not?"

"Well, er, yes, I suppose," replied Harry.

"But," said Malfoy, sounding rather exasperated, "those are just some minor _annoyances_," he laughed, "bothersome indeed, but not _dangerous_ I wouldn't say! I mean, no one's even been hurt yet!"

"Mr. Malfoy, you are not in the position to decide about things you simply _do not understand." Malfoy looked rather taken aback, he had never been treated this way by his favorite teacher and was obviously not enjoying it._

"Yes, but -"

"The lack of injuries," interrupted Snape, "as you so _kindly pointed out, has simply been a matter of luck, I'm afraid. We have quite a bit of proof already that each of these… '__annoyances', as you had put it, are directly attempting to harm the inhabitants of this school," he said, rather matter-of-factly. "I'm afraid," he said, "that I'm going to have to take 50 points from you," he glared at Harry again, and with a rather pained expression looked to Malfoy and continued, "_each_ of you. You do understand of course, why the school is taking such precautions… I supposed I shall have to escort the both of you back to your dormitories."_

Snape got up and gestured for them to exit the room. As Harry walked from the office, he looked back once again to try and catch a glimpse at the books laying about, but Snape continued to Sheppard them out and he was forced to look away. 


End file.
